


Can't Say No

by toristiel



Category: Death Note
Genre: Other, canon character death, this was supposed to be happier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 03:36:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3554576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toristiel/pseuds/toristiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Headcanon that L gets candy stuck in his hair a lot as a child, and one day Watari gets fed up with having to get it out for him, so he decides to cut L's hair (which is a big mistake)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Say No

Watari never could tell L no. But when the young child came to him for the fifth time that month with candy stuck in his ebony hair, he had finally had enough. Inspecting the dark locks tangled around the wet and sticky blue jolly rancher, Watari made the decision to put an end to what would otherwise be hours of yanking, struggling, and untangling.

Leading the boy into one of the large bathrooms in the Wammy House mansion, he sat L down on a stool, not mentioning the strange way the child perched himself on top of it or the way he immediately slid the tip of his thumb past his lips. The boy was wearing an oversized white sweatshirt and baggy jeans, the only thing he ever seemed to wear (another thing Watari never attempted to dispute).

Humming to himself, Watari searched the drawers for the tools he would need, feeling L’s wide watchful eyes at his back. After a few minutes of rummaging, he found the scissors, a comb, and an old apron that he then fastened around L. The off-white fabric swallowed the slender boy, leaving just his head visible.

“Watari…?” L asked cautiously, eyes narrowed now as he pieced together what was happening.

“Don’t worry. It will only take a moment,” Watari replied calmly, pinching a strand of shoulder-length hair between his fingers. Using a spray bottle from the counter, he wet L’s dark locks enough to get them to lie flat so he could comb through them. He couldn’t help but wonder how on earth the boy managed to keep his hair so soft when he knew for a fact that it only got washed once a week (twice when Watari offered up an exceptionally good bargain of sweets).

“Watari, wait, no!” L shrieked as the care-taker snipped off a four-inch strand of hair. Immediately, the man regretted his decision when he saw L’s face reflected back at him in the mirror in front of them. The boy’s eyes were wide with shock and undeniably watery, his mouth hanging slightly open. It was an expression of horror and distraught that Watari had never before seen on the usually stoic child, and he felt his heart sink. Still, he couldn’t very well leave his hair like that… and the candy was still tangled in the remaining locks.

Grimly, focusing only on the hair, Watari finished what he had set out to do, trying unsuccessfully to block out the soft sniffles coming from L. He didn’t dare look at the boy’s face for fear of being consumed by guilt. Besides, he had a pretty good idea of the look he would receive from the wide dark eyes that could be so cold when they wanted to be. For the remaining time, all that could be heard was the quiet sound of snipping scissors mingled with small hiccups and sniffles.

When he was finished, L’s hair covered the bathroom floor at Watari’s feet, and the blue jolly rancher lay in the midst of the severed locks. L didn’t say anything, just stared at his reflection in the mirror with thinly veiled disgust as Watari removed the apron from his still-trembling shoulders.

“L…” Watari started, heart breaking at the sight of the small child sitting there with tear-stained cheeks.

“I’m going to my room now, Watari. Please do not call me down for dinner.” With that, L stood up and walked out of the bathroom with his hands jammed a little farther in his pockets than they normally were and his back hunched just a bit more than usual.

During the three weeks that it took the boy’s hair to grow back, not a word could be drawn from him. Watari tried everything from cakes to candies to sugar cubes, but L avoided him at all costs and insisted upon staying in his room as much as possible. Near the third week, Watari was beginning to think that the young genius would never forgive him.

Eventually, with the regrowth of his hair, L came around, and neither spoke a word of the incident since then. Watari vowed to himself never to cut L’s hair again, even if it meant spending hours pulling out lollipops and other candies from the tangled mess, and things went back to normal.

Yes, Watari couldn’t tell L no, which was why he never questioned L’s desire to get so close to the Kira case.  It was why, when he felt his chest contract and his heart stutter, he did everything in his power to do as L had instructed and wipe all data of the case from his computer. It was why his last waking thought was of a small ebony-haired boy who never knew a true family, coming to him with candy in his hair and light in his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> So that was going to be fluff but I apparently suck at writing happy things (and writing in general tbh) but thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it


End file.
